The UK loves a quirky festival ranging from ones devoted to pina coladas or lobbing black puddings, and luckily for Mancs, there’s an unusual one coming to the city this weekend. Hosted by Track Brewery’s Pickle Club, Pickle Fest is set to take over the craft brewery in Manchester for a jam-packed event dedicated to all things of the pickled or fermented variety. Whether you’re a sucker for sauerkraut, a proud pickle and preserve maker, crazy about kombucha or just want to gorge on gherkins then this is the place to be.
When and where will Pickle Fest take place?
Pickle Fest will be held at Track Brewery on the Piccadilly Trading Estate on Sunday 7th September from 12pm to 7pm.
What to expect at Pickle Fest
Bring-Your-Own-Pickle (BYOP)
If you’re a proud pickler and fancy sharing, Pickle Fest is inviting attendees to bring their own homemade pickle to the event. There’s bound to be plenty of tangy surprises to try.
Jar judging
Fancy a bit of healthy competition? If you think your jar is tasty enough, you can enter it into the Pickle Fest competition. There will be many prizes to be won and who knows you might even be crowned the Pickled Person ’25! You can enter by emailing hollpickles@gmail.com with your name, phone number and what’s in you jar by September 5. It costs £2 entry and all proceeds will go to the Track Pickle Club.
Vendors
Outlaw Face Paints
Huddersfield-based face painter Saffron of Outlaw Face Paints will be joining Pickle Festival to paint pickles on all your faces. The paints Saffron uses are vegan, animal-friendly, fragrance and paraben-free.
Stiff Tea
For all the ‘buch lovers, Stiff Tea will be at Pickle Fest. Stiff Tea first started brewing in 2024 and has exploded (not literally!) ever since creating delicious alcoholic flavoured kombucha. Zak will also be brewing a secret special Pickle Festival kombucha for the occasion.
Cardinal Rule
Famed for bringing the American biscuit to Manchester, Cardinal Rule will be serving up some scran on the day. You can expect plenty of moreish beer snacks like dill frickles with ranch, sweet frickles with honey mustard and mini biscuits with pimento cheese and sweet pickle.
Henry C and Sapling Spirits
Plus, Chorlton cocktail bar Henry C will be collaborating with Sapling Spirits to create some delicious pickley-inspired cocktails with sustainable spirits. Think cocktail creations like Kimchi Mary (Sapling vodka, kimchi, house spice mix and passata), Dill Collins (dill-infused Sapling gin, green shrub, lemon and soda) and Pickle Up (Lillet Blanc, Cocchi Americano, cornichon brine and absinthe). And for each cocktail sold, Sapling Spirits will plant a tree – so buy a cocktail and help the Earth.
